educational 


EDITED  BY  HENRY  SUZZALLO 

PROFESSOR   OF   THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   EDUCATION 
TEACHERS   COLLEGE,   COLUMBIA   UNIVERSITY 


TRADES 
AND  PROFESSIONS 

BY 

GEORGE  HERBERT  PALMER 

PROFESSOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY  EMERITUS 
IN   HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 


HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN   COMPANY 

BOSTON,    NEW  YORK   AND   CHICAGO 

Ritettfi&e  $re#  Camfiribge 


COPYRIGHT,   1914,  BY  GEORGE  HERBERT  PALMER 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
V  .  S  .  A 


CONTENTS 

EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION v 

TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS     ....  3 

OUTLINE 35 


2056782 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

THE  teachers  of  the  public  schools  perform  their 
work  with  high-minded  intention.  It  matters 
little  what  motives  led  them,  as  youths  of  nine- 
teen or  twenty,  to  enter  the  teaching  service  of 
the  State;  once  enrolled,  they  go  about  their  busi- 
ness with  devotion.  The  need  to  earn  a  living, 
the  pride  of  economic  independence,  or  the  de- 
sire to  follow  a  socially  respectable  occupation, 
may  have  brought  them  to  the  door  of  the  school- 
house,  but  once  inside  they  are  firmly  gripped 
by  the  ideals  of  the  teaching  service.  There  is 
something  in  the  contact  with  childhood,  some- 
thing in  the  miracle  of  human  growth,  something 
in  the  transformation  of  the  children  of  all  the 
world  into  American  citizens,  which  soon  inter- 
ests the  newest  recruit  at  teaching,  and  enlists 
him  for  the  full  and  willing  sacrifice  that  the  pub- 
lic school  service  demands.  It  is  for  this  reason 
that  one  can  say  that  the  half-million  teachers 
of  the  United  States  are  its  most  devoted  public 
v 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

servants.  No  other  large  group  of  public  em- 
ployees can  match  the  average  of  fine  conscience 
with  which  they  do  their  work. 

Yet  in  spite  of  our  ungrudging  praise  of  the 
idealism  of  teachers,  the  public  is  not  completely 
pleased  with  the  schools  and  their  products. 
Indeed,  it  must  be  said  that  the  teachers  them- 
selves are  far  from  being  satisfied  with  their  own 
service.  Everywhere  there  are  evidences  of  new 
protests  and  aspirations  in  the  teaching  profes- 
sions. The  teachers  in  the  grades  unite  to  gain 
a  higher  wage,  to  establish  annuities  for  old  age, 
or  to  add  stability  to  tenure;  they  plead  for  the 
right  to  exercise  initiative  and  discretion  in  the 
management  of  their  own  classrooms,  and  ask 
to  be  heard  in  the  general  councils  of  the  school 
department.  The  supervisory  officials,  too,  ask 
for  an  expert  status  that  will  allow  them  to  meet 
with  a  freer  will  the  difficulties  of  school  organ- 
ization and  administration;  they  survey  the 
community  in  order  to  register  accurately  its 
needs  and  demands,  and  measure  with  scientifi- 
cally derived  standards  the  worth  of  teaching. 
Somehow,  in  the  face  of  all  these  disturbances, 
vi 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

agitations,,  and  gropings,  professional  high- 
mindedness  and  the  eagerness  to  serve  seem  not 
of  themselves  adequate.  Professional  discussion 
reveals  a  thousand  attempts  to  meet  the  diffi- 
culties of  which  the  teachers  and  superintendents 
are  now  for  the  first  time  aware. 

In  such  a  situation,  the  need  is  for  a  body  of 
guiding  principles.  We  ought  to  know  what 
society  requires  of  the  school.  That  is  initial. 
We  ought,  too,  to  have  a  sympathetic  apprecia- 
tion of  boys  and  girls.  Without  personal  con- 
sideration, no  high  work  is  done  with  humans. 
But  we  require  finally  a  clear  sense  of  the  nature 
of  our  own  workmanship,  not  merely  as  to  its 
technique,  but  also  as  to  its  spirit.  To  compre- 
hend the  spirit  with  which  the  work  of  teaching 
must  be  done  is  to  pave  the  way  for  growing 
sanely.  The  clear  analysis  and  definition  of  pro- 
fessional life  which  this  volume  presents  will 
be  of  unending  worth  to  those  who  would  carry 
fundamental  values  and  a  far-reaching  perspec- 
tive into  their  professional  thought. 

There  are  some  particular  things  that  are  of 
special  pertinence  to  our  present  educational 
vii 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

situation.  At  the  very  outset,  we  need,  once  and 
for  all,  to  perceive  the  true  relation  between  social 
service  and  monetary  remuneration  hi  profes- 
sional work.  In  spite  of  an  impression  to  the 
contrary,  it  is  really  quite  difficult  to  unify  the 
teachers  hi  a  propaganda  expressed  hi  money 
terms.  The  profession  has  many  austere  ideal- 
ists who  hold  that  a  profession  of  teaching  ought 
not  of  itself  to  lay  any  stress  on  money  pay. 
Being  ascetics  they  are  quiet  about  their  views, 
and  are  discoverable  only  through  the  fact  that 
they  will  not  cooperate  hi  the  fiscal  program  of 
reformers.  These  need  to  see  their  own  half- 
truth  beside  the  other;  to  see  that,  while  money 
can  be  no  major  end  of  teaching,  it  is  a  necessity 
ennobled  by  its  proper  use  as  means.  There  is 
among  us  another  group,  those  who  have  felt 
with  overkeenness  the  pinch  of  cultural  poverty 
caused  by  slender  financial  means,  or  who  have 
felt  their  neighbors'  low  esteem  for  the  teaching 
wage.  These  make  paramount  the  professional 
policies  that  look  to  improvement  hi  the  fiscal 
status  of  teachers,  omitting  or  underemphasiz- 
ing  issues  that  touch  superior  teaching  service, 
viii 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

This  group  needs  to  understand  that  the  con- 
certed attempt  to  federate  groups  of  teachers 
with  trade  unions  is  merely  an  effort  to  depro- 
f  essionalize  teaching  without  rendering  any  sub- 
stantial assistance  to  labor. 

It  would  also  be  a  considerable  gain  if  all  edu- 
cational officials  could  really  be  convinced  that 
there  is  a  coincidence  of  interest  among  all  hu- 
man factors  working  hi  the  school  situation.  What 
the  public  desires  in  the  schools,  the  schoolmen 
really  wish  to  give;  what  the  teachers  request 
to  make  classroom  service  congenial  is  really 
the  best  way  to  gain  what  the  superintendents, 
in  the  last  analysis,  demand.  A  few  cases  will 
illustrate  the  thought.  What  the  public  calls  the 
"lock-step"  in  the  schools  is  exactly  what  the 
teacher  dreads  as  destructive  of  his  own  initia- 
tive —  the  centralized,  uniform,  and  rigid  super- 
vision from  above.  The  superintendent,  in  his 
haste  to  get  the  final  product,  teaching,  fails  to 
see  that  teachers,  facing  varying  conditions,  must 
use  differing  means.  Again,  is  not  the  poverty, 
which  teachers  feel  they  can  no  longer  endure, 
merely  then-  own  recognition  of  the  fact  that  they 
iz 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

cannot  participate  in  human  institutions  with 
that  degree  of  fullness  and  fineness  required  to 
develop  the  cultural  richness  of  personality 
which  parents  wish  in  the  teachers  of  their  chil- 
dren? Could  parents  really  see  this  coincidence 
of  interest  would  they  not  be  more  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  teacher's  salary?  Is  not  the  super- 
intendent's craving  for  an  expert  status  merely 
his  aspiration  to  render  that  efficiency  which 
the  public  is  always  demanding  in  its  more  criti- 
cal moments?  The  interests  of  every  human  unit 
in  the  teaching  profession  are,  in  the  long  run, 
coincident  with  those  of  every  other.  The  well- 
being  of  the  teaching  profession  as  a  whole  is 
one  with  that  of  the  public.  Fortunate  we  shall 
be  if  this  is  clearly  perceived,  for  then  we  shall 
have  two  roads  to  every  journey's  end,  and  many 
hands  to  carry  the  burdens. 

Finally,  it  will  be  a  great  advantage  to  teachers 
if  they  will  realize  how  impotent  they  are  when 
working  in  isolation  from  all  their  profession 
knows  and  does  from  day  to  day.  Tune  was  when 
teachers  might  gather  together  the  best  that  their 
colleagues  had  done,  and  go  to  their  classrooms 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

fairly  certain  that  they  were  on  the  highway  of 
progress.  This  can  be  true  no  more.  We  are 
far  removed  from  the  simple  and  undifferen- 
tiated  tasks  of  the  teacher  in  the  one-room  coun- 
try school.  We  have  evolved  great  systems  of 
education  with  expanded  and  complicated  re- 
sponsibilities, which  become  specialized  assign- 
ments to  different  groups  of  persons.  Under 
existing  conditions  the  need  of  correlation  has 
outstripped  the  teacher's  capacity  for  spontane- 
ous cooperation.  Something  far-reaching  and 
deliberate  must  be  employed  to  keep  teachers 
working  together  in  the  fulfillment  of  the  en- 
larged plan. 

Many  of  the  difficulties  which  now  confront 
the  teaching  profession  arise  from  the  fact  that 
the  specialized  functionaries  of  the  schools  have 
little  appreciation  of  each  other,  and  therefore 
offer  little  mutual  support.  The  administrator, 
engrossed  with  the  mechanisms  for  easy  school 
management,  loses  his  grip  on  teaching  conditions 
and  begins  to  obstruct  the  teaching  function 
for  which  the  schools  were  devised.  The  teacher, 
on  his  side,  forgets  the  contribution  of  the  super- 
xi 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

intendent,  who  has  relieved  him  of  the  daily 
need  to  face  public  criticism  and  to  work  with 
a  scant  school  tax.  Thus  the  classroom  instructor 
grows  indifferent  to  the  consequences  of  good 
and  bad  school  legislation,  organization,  and 
administration;  and  loses  his  impulse  to  aid  the 
executive  leaders  of  the  profession,  who  strive 
to  improve  the  fundamental  backgrounds  of  the 
teacher's  work.  Instances  of  similar  professional 
isolation  might  be  cited  in  large  number.  These 
suffice  to  illustrate  the  point  at  hand.  We  cannot 
be  members  of  a  single  profession  until  we  have 
common  appreciations  of  educational  problems 
and  common  modes  of  cooperating  toward  the 
solution  of  the  same.  Without  unity  of  under- 
standing and  action  we  are  merely  members  of 
so  many  different  groups  of  specialists  who  feel 
only  a  slender  common  concern  with  schools. 

The  educational  profession  as  a  whole  must 
soon  grasp  the  principle  that  cooperation  is  in- 
creasingly necessary  as  the  tasks  within  schools 
become  more  specialized.  Where  men  contribute 
only  parts,  there  is  the  constant  practical  de- 
mand to  provide  a  continuous  process  of  assem- 

•• 

in 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

bling.  It  must  be  frankly  admitted  that  the 
teaching  profession  is  weakest  to-day  on  the 
corporate  side.  Its  units  are  devoted  and  unself- 
ish men  and  women.  In  spite  of  every  wrong 
condition,  they  are  fascinated  by  their  work  and 
would  not  be  happy  elsewhere.  The  joy  of  their 
social  servantship  is  more  to  them  than  riches. 
They  eagerly  seek  the  enlargement  of  then:  own 
powers.  But  an  aggregation  of  fine-souled  teach- 
ers does  not  make  a  profession,  —  at  least  not  a 
profession  adequate  to  meet  current  responsi- 
bilities. In  a  sense  the  most  important  and  in- 
clusive truth  presented  in  the  masterly  essay 
which  follows  is  the  one  which  insists  that  we 
shall  find  "that  superiority  to  our  own  detached 
selves,  which  comes  only  through  whole-hearted 
loyalty  to  a  profession."^, 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS1 

WHAT  is  a  profession,  and  how  does  it  differ  from 
a  trade?  We  teachers  pride  ourselves  on  being 
professional  people  and  altogether  repudiate  the 
notion  that  we  are  mere  tradesmen.  But  do  we 
quite  understand  what  we  mean  by  the  distinc- 
tion? It  is  important  we  should.  A  clear  under- 
standing of  it  will,  I  believe,  deliver  us  from  some 
of  the  petty  hardships  of  our  work  or  even  cany 
us  on  through  these  to  discover  its  exceeding 
glory. 

The  subject  is  one  unfitted  for  oratory.  Re- 
sounding sentences  and  uplifting  appeals  do  not 
belong  here.  In  this  discussion  we  are  to  deal  with 
delicate  matters,  difficult  to  trace,  matters  which 
oblige  me  to  call  on  you  for  strenuous  and  con- 
tinuous attention  and  on  myself  for  the  plainest 
possible  speech.  Perhaps  I  shall  most  easily  lead 
you  to  comprehend  the  subtle  though  weighty 

1  An  address  delivered  before  the  University  of  the  State 
of  New  York  at  its  fiftieth  annual  convocation  in  Albany, 
October  22,  1914. 


TRADES  AND   PROFESSIONS 

distinction  if  I  bring  you  to  it  in  much  the  same 
way  in  which  I  originally  came  upon  it  myself. 

Years  ago  as  a  young  man  I  spent  a  winter  in 
Italy  and  fell  seriously  ill.  An  Italian  physician 
was  called.  I  became  warmly  attached  to  him, 
admired  his  skill,  and  at  length  was  able  to  say 
to  my  nurse,  "He  has  actually  cured  me.  The 
next  time  he  comes  I  am  going  to  tell  him  so  and 
ask  for  his  bill."  She  drew  back  with  horror, 
"Oh,  you  would  not  insult  the  kind  gentleman." 
"Insult  him?  No,  indeed,"  I  said.  "Only  express 
my  gratitude  and  discharge  my  obligation." 
"But,"  she  persisted,  "he  is  not  a  tradesman. 
He  makes  no  charge.  He  does  not  work  for 
money,  and  you  must  not  let  it  appear  as  if  he 
did."  "Still,"  I  argued,  "he  has  his  living  to 
earn.  Does  he  not  accept  fees  from  his  patients?  " 
"Certainly,  certainly,"  she  said,  "and  of  course 
you  will  offer  him  something  to  show  you  are 
grateful,  a  gratuity.  But  he  could  not  make  out 
a  bill."  All  this  you  will  understand  occurred  a 
great  many  years  ago. 

It  set  me  thinking.  I  wondered  if  there  was  any 
similar  sensitiveness  in  other  professions.  Then 
4 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

I  remembered  how  in  ancient  times  when  teach- 
ing first  arose  and  bands  of  wandering  scholars 
called  "sophists"  or  "wise"  men  sought  to  en- 
lighten the  Greek  youth,  particularly  at  Athens, 
they  were  denounced  by  Socrates,  Plato,  Xeno- 
phon,  and  other  high-minded  men  on  a  charge 
not  merely  of  misleading  the  young,  but  of  being 
so  depraved  as  to  ask  money  for  instruction. 
They  actually  took  pay  for  teaching,  as  if  truth 
were  a  possession  of  theirs  which  they  could 
peddle  out  and  on  which  they  could  set  a  market 
price.  What  impiety!  said  Socrates  and  Plato. 
Even  in  our  time,  I  find  traces  of  this  horror  of 
the  professional  man's  seeking  pay.  It  is  bad 
form  for  a  lawyer  or  a  doctor  to  advertise.  Ad- 
vertising generally  raises  one's  income.  But  that 
is  the  reason  why  it  lowers  a  man's  professional 
standing.  Professional  men  should  not  be  look- 
ing after  profits,  announcing  themselves  traders. 
The  wares  of  doctors  and  lawyers  are  not  com- 
modities of  the  market.  So,  too,  a  while  ago  it 
was  not  uncommon  for  an  author,  if  a  sensitive 
soul,  to  decline  payment  for  his  books.  The  most 
popular  poem  in  our  language,  Gray's  "Elegy," 
5 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

was  sent  to  the  publisher,  Dodsley,  who  eagerly 
accepted  it  and  offered  Gray  a  substantial  sum. 
But  Gray  recoiled.  Not  at  all.  He  had  written 
it  for  no  such  purpose,  and  not  a  penny  would  he 
accept.  Why,  only  within  the  last  three  years  has 
there  been  payment  of  members  of  the  English 
House  of  Commons.  A  long  agitation  and  a  radi- 
cal ministry  were  necessary  to  bring  it  about. 
In  America  to-day  some  of  our  most  important 
public  business  is  carried  on  by  commissions  of 
unpaid  experts.  Nor  does  the  time-taking  and 
responsible  work  of  our  boards  of  college  trustees 
ever  receive  compensation. 

We  may  say,  then,  that  all  down  the  ages,  di- 
minishing, it  is  true,  in  degree,  there  has  been  a 
feeling  that  certain  classes  in  the  community 
should  hold  themselves  aloof  from  pay.  The  trader 
seeks  it,  the  professional  man  does  not.  I  do  not 
think  this  feeling  regards  money  itself  as  foul, 
tainting  the  hand  that  touches  it.  The  possession 
of  it  is  generally  counted  honorable,  even  the  open 
pursuit.  He  who  enters  business  has  no  shame  in 
announcing  that  he  hopes  to  enrich  himself;  and  if 
he  acquires  riches  without  trickery,  he  commands 
6 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

respect.  It  is  true  we  often  hear  laboring-men 
clamor  against  those  who  possess  money;  but  so 
far  are  the  clamorers  from  objecting  to  money 
that  they  complain  that  they  do  not  receive  a 
sufficient  share.  Indeed,  one  who  enters  business 
with  any  other  aim  than  that  of  making  money  is 
apt  to  be  condemned.  I  have  repeatedly  heard  it 
called  unfair  for  a  lady  of  means  to  become  a  mil- 
liner or  to  take  orders  for  delicate  embroidery. 
She  is  popularly  thought  to  have  no  right  in  the 
ranks  of  trade  unless  she  needs  money.  Against 
entering  to  obtain  this  there  is  no  objection.  On 
the  other  hand,  though  a  professional  man  must 
not  aim  at  money,  he  is  expected  to  reach  a  cer- 
tain competence,  and  probably  the  incomes  of 
the  professional  and  commercial  classes  do  not 
on  the  whole  greatly  differ.  Where,  then,  lies  the 
curious  contrast  between  the  two,  and  how  can 
a  moneyed  line  be  traced  along  the  gulf  that 
parts  them? 

Reflecting  on  the  puzzle,  I  come  to  this  conclu- 
sion: the  professional  man  expects  to  receive 
money,  and  ordinarily  feels  that  he  receives  too 
little.    Money,  however,  enters  his  life  in  a  dif- 
7 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

ferent  way  and  for  a  different  end.  He  does 
not,  for  example,  do  "piece  work,"  as  we  may 
say,  so  much  for  so  much.  How  awkward  it 
would  be  if  he  did!  I  summon  a  doctor  to  my 
bedside;  and  after  he  has  worked  over  me  a  while 
he  says,  "My  fee  is  two  dollars.  I  believe  I  have 
given  you  about  two  dollars'  worth  of  attention 
and  will  leave."  Or  the  minister  says,  "My  sal- 
ary is  but  eight  hundred  dollars.  So  I  have 
written  sermons  of  an  eight  hundred  dollar  qual- 
ity. Do  not  expect  better  ones  till  next  year, 
when  my  salary  rises."  Or  if  you  teachers  come 
upon  some  exceptional  pupil  whose  ambition  out- 
runs his  class,  do  you  draw  back  and  say,  "I 
was  paid  only  for  ordinary  pupils  and  cannot 
attend  to  your  demands?  For  a  dollar  extra 
I  would  gladly  push  you  onwards."  If  any  of 
these  three  professionals  should  speak  so,  we 
should  be  sure  they  did  not  understand  their 
calling.  Yet  exactly  in  this  way  the  tradesman 
should  speak.  When  I  buy  cloth  of  him  and  he 
finds  he  has  given  me  two  yards  and  a  half  instead 
of  two  yards,  neither  of  us  is  shocked  at  his  say- 
ing, "Well,  I  must  charge  you  fifty  cents  more  for 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

that."  He  assesses  his  payment  by  the  piece,  as 
a  proportional  affair.  That  is  not  the  case  in  the 
professions. 

How,  then,  in  them  is  money  given  or  received 
at  all,  if  it  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  payment  for 
goods  rendered?  It  is  seen  that  the  professional 
man  must  live  while  doing  work  which  is  mani- 
festly of  value  to  the  public,  and  accordingly  a 
stipend,  fee,  honorarium,  or  salary  is  provided 
to  cover  the  expenses  of  that  mode  of  life  which 
is  thought  appropriate  for  him;  the  kind  of  life 
and  the  consequent  scale  of  salary  being  de- 
signed to  secure  three  essential  elements  in  his 
work,  namely,  freedom,  efficiency,  and  dignity. 
These  elements,  and  not  money,  are  what  the 
professional  man  and  his  public  regard.  In  com- 
parison with  them  money  is  only  incidental  and 
auxiliary.  So  long  as  he  has  a  due  degree  of  free- 
dom, is  able  to  work  with  full  efficiency,  and  can 
maintain  the  dignity  which  his  calling  demands, 
his  mind  is  discharged  from  monetary  considera- 
tions. 

But  because  the  public  is  niggardly,  or  perhaps 
unskilled  in  reckoning  what  these  essentials  of 
9 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

professional  work  require,  the  professional  mind 
is  in  fact  continually  distracted  with  thoughts  of 
money,  and  necessarily  so;  for  while  money  is 
only  a  condition  of  matters  more  important  than 
itself,  it  is  a  conditio  sintfqua  non.  A  teacher  with 
no  money  in  his  pocket  cannot  be  free.  If  he  is 
not  sure  whether  he  can  pay  his  board  bill  next 
week,  he  will  be  pinched  by  that  anxiety  in  the 
classroom,  and  his  work  will  suffer.  He  cannot 
teach  well  with  a  divided  mind.  Through  a  com- 
petent income  his  thoughts  should  be  left  free  to 
fasten  on  his  teaching  rather  than  on  his  purse. 
Worry  dulls;  dulls  one  who  for  his  pupils'  sake 
should  be  kept  abounding  and  free.  To  preserve 
his  highest  efficiency  a  teacher  should  be  able  from 
time  to  time  to  escape  from  work,  move  about 
in  other  fields,  become  a  simple  human  being,  and 
accept  the  fervent  interests  of  all  mankind  as 
his  own:  that  is,  he  needs  occasional  vacations 
and  sabbatical  years;  needs  books,  recreation, 
society,  all  in  the  interest  of  highest  efficiency. 
Whatever  of  these  is  poured  into  him  will  come 
out  as  enrichment  for  his  pupils.  Yet  all  these 
things  require  money. 

10 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

A  certain  dignity,  too,  is  proper  for  those  who 
work  in  the  public  service,  and  toward  this  money 
helps.  We  sometimes  imagine  that  to  influence 
our  pupils  most  we  should  put  ourselves  on  their 
level  and  be  hail-fellow-well-met  with  them. 
Certainly  we  should  be  affable,  ever  showing  a 
friendly  spirit  and  keeping  access  between  them 
and  us  constantly  open.  But,  after  all,  ennobling 
influence  comes  chiefly  from  above.  We  must 
look  up  to  one  who  is  to  form  our  ideals,  and  no 
one  of  easy  familiarity  will  ever  be  of  the  same 
consequence  as  one  who  commands  our  respect 
through  being  a  little  removed  from  us.  Now  there 
is  danger  that  the  dignity  which  belongs  to  our 
calling,  that  dignity  by  which  we  are  to  exalt  our 
pupils,  may  be  damaged  if  we  come  before  them 
in  seedy  coats,  battered  hats,  and  evidently  medi- 
tating how  we  are  to  obtain  our  living.  That 
is  not  a  dignified  attitude.  Rightly,  therefore, 
do  we  who  have  knowledge  and  the  young  in  our 
keeping  demand  a  salary  that  will  insure  our 
freedom,  efficiency,  and  dignity.  And  what  I  have 
said  of  "our"  profession  is,  I  believe,  applicable, 
with  fitting  adjustments,  to  the  other  professions. 
ii 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

All  need  money,  often  large  sums,  as  what  I  may 
call  a  negative  condition  of  their  work.  It  is  not 
their  primary  aim,  but  without  it  that  aim  can- 
not be  reached. 

As  I  look  over  the  ranks  of  teachers  I  find  that 
for  the  most  part  they  are  working  on  a  scale  of 
salary  which  is  uneconomical  for  the  community, 
because  restrictive  of  then:  freedom,  efficiency, 
and  dignity.  A  few  years  ago  I  visited  nine  of  the 
Western  colleges,  took  a  small  part  in  their  in- 
struction, and  so  became  tolerably  acquainted  with 
then:  inner  organization.  In  few  of  them  was  the 
salary  of  the  full  professor  above  two  thousand 
dollars.  In  several  that  of  the  president  was  but 
twenty-five  hundred  dollars,  and  in  one  the  presi- 
dent, receiving  a  salary  of  twenty-five  hundred 
dollars,  paid  back  to  the  trustees  six  hundred 
dollars  for  his  house.  On  such  incomes  teachers 
cannot  do  their  best  work.  We  expect,  properly 
expect,  that  our  calling  shall  not  expose  us  to 
poverty.  A  result  much  better  than  that  we 
cannot  anticipate.  No  one  should  devote  him- 
self to  teaching  with  any  other  thought  than 
that  his  life  will  never  rise  considerably  above  the 

12 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

edge  of  want.  But  I  think  we  may  fairly  claim, 
in  the  interest  of  the  public  as  well  as  of  ourselves, 
that  our  salaries  shall  not  sink  below  that  edge, 
and  that  there  may  even  be  a  few  prizes  offered 
above  it. 

Fortunately  the  justice  of  this  claim  is  now 
more  generally  felt,  and  college  presidents  are 
everywhere  attempting  to  raise  funds  for  the  in- 
crease of  salaries.  These  they  now  perceive  to  be 
more  effective  than  buildings  hi  drawing  students, 
fashioning  them  to  manhood,  and  winning  honor 
for  the  institution  that  trained  them.  Whether, 
therefore,  we  care  for  money  or  scorn  it,  we  ought 
in  the  interest  of  education  to  use  our  utmost  in- 
fluence toward  raising  the  salaries  of  teachers.  In 
some  other  professions  I  suspect  similar  condi- 
tions prevail. 

Hitherto  I  have  spoken  only  of  the  negative 
conditions  of  our  work,  the  conditions  of  freedom, 
efficiency,  and  dignity,  without  which  it  becomes 
impossible.  But  let  these  all  be  present,  positive 
interests  attracting  us  to  our  work  will  still  be 
needed.  What,  then,  are  these  positive  induce- 
ments to  a  professional  life  which  distinguish  it 
13 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

from  the  commercial?  They  are  many,  but  let  us 
confine  our  attention  to-day  to  the  three  prin- 
cipal ones.  I  understand  that  we  become  profes- 
sional men,  and  especially  teachers, — for  I  regard 
teaching  as  the  greatest  of  the  professions,  —  be- 
cause we  wish  to  exercise  our  powers,  with  a  view 
to  benefiting  the  community,  and  in  loyalty  to 
a  growing  brotherhood.  These  three  controlling 
purposes,  however  darkly  expressed  here,  set  a 
sharp  contrast  between  the  mental  attitudes  of 
the  professional  and  the  commercial  man.  The 
attainment  of  them  is  the  one  reward  he  seeks. 
All  other  payment  is  merely  collateral.  Let  me 
say  a  few  words  hi  regard  to  each. 

Strictly  speaking,  every  sound  professional 
man,  every  sound  teacher  at  least,  is  engaged  in 
his  work  for  the  fun  of  the  thing.  I  became  a 
teacher  because  on  the  whole  I  liked  this  better 
than  anything  else.  It  suited  me,  and  it  has  suited 
me  better  the  longer  I  have  taught.  Sometimes  I 
think  I  should  hardly  care  to  live  if  I  were  not  a 
teacher.  From  my  height  of  teaching  I  look  down 
on  other  struggling  mortals,  busy  with  their  in- 
ferior interests,  and  I  do  not  think  much  of  them. 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

Many  years  ago  I  wrote  that  Harvard  College 
pays  me  for  doing  what  I  would  gladly  pay  it  for 
allowing  me  to  do.  And  this  was  only  a  vivacious 
statement  of  the  general  principle  that  the  com- 
pensation of  the  professional  man  is  measured 
by  his  inner  outgo  and  not  like  the  tradesman's 
by  his  external  income.  Conscious  of  our  powers, 
we  see  in  some  profession  an  opportunity  to  exer- 
cise them,  and  to  it  we  turn  with  an  eagerness 
which  gives  zest  to  severe  toil.  So  one  becomes 
a  painter  because  he  wants  to  paint,  a  scientific 
man  because  he  wants  to  know,  a  teacher  be- 
cause he  wants  to  practice  his  delicate  art  of 
impartation.  Such  are  the  fundamental  desires 
of  good  professionalism.  The  notion  of  benefit- 
ing somebody  comes  afterwards.  Primarily  we 
are  moved  by  the  feeling  in  our  bones  that  we 
were  made  to  do  just  this  thing.  In  all  that  is 
worthy,  a  belief  in  predestination  attends  the 
best  results.  "  To  this  end  was  I  born  and  for  this 
cause  came  I  into  the  world,"  said  the  greatest  of 
teachers. 

Some  candid  teacher  may  reply,  "Yes,  I  recog- 
nize something  of  that  sort  in  myself,  but  you  ex- 
15 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

aggerate.  Often  it  is  not  in  me,  sometimes  I  even 
feel  bored.  Again  and  again  I  wish  I  were  out  of 
teaching  and  in  some  other  profession."  I  must 
sadly  acknowledge  that  this  is  the  way  with  us 
all.  We  fluctuate,  and  find  our  work  first-rate 
only  in  those  blessed  seasons  when  the  passion 
for  it  is  upon  us.  But  determination  can  lengthen 
these  seasons  and  make  them  more  secure.  Al- 
most everything  on  which  we  put  our  mind, 
studying  it  long  enough  to  explore  its  interior,  will 
disclose  its  attractions.  The  trouble  is  the  moment 
we  begin  to  feel  uncertain  whether  we  care  for 
our  profession  and  detect  in  it  that  irksomeness 
which  every  noble  work  contains,  we  are  apt  to 
turn  our  attention  away  and  seek  relief  elsewhere. 
But  permanent  relief  can  be  had  only  by  turning 
right  toward  our  job,  finding  out  all  that  it  con- 
tains, discovering  its  fresh  possibilities,  seeing  how 
many  sides  of  us  have  not  yet  gone  into  it,  and 
letting  it  draw  on  us  for  all  it  will.  The  teacher 
like  everybody  else,  must  learn  to  distinguish 
between  his  moods  and  his  predominant  aims, 
and  hold  himself  believingly  to  the  latter  through 
all  the  vagaries  of  the  former.  Our  times  of  suc- 
16 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

cess  are  alone  trustworthy,  revealing  as  they  do 
our  capacities  and  the  joyous  fitness  which  may 
be  brought  about  between  them  and  our  work. 
Expression  of  ourselves  cannot  be  had  in  an  in- 
stant. It  is  an  affair  of  time  and  growth,  though 
a  half-blind  consciousness  of  the  direction  in 
which  it  may  be  found  is  what  prompts  the  first 
step  toward  it. 

But  how  different  from  this  professional  attitude 
is  his  who  works  for  pay!  With  him  the  activity 
is  merely  instrumental,  money  the  object.  With 
the  professional  man  money  is  instrumental,  the 
employment  of  his  powers  the  ami.  Something 
disagreeable  needs  to  be  done.  It  is  nothing  I  care 
to  do.  But  doing  it  is  less  disagreeable  than  going 
longer  without  money.  I  accordingly  undertake 
it,  receive  the  specified  payment,  and  am  content. 
A  large  part  of  the  work  of  the  world  is  of  this 
kind.  The  laborer  goes  to  his  factory,  his  gravel- 
pit,  his  shop,  not  ordinarily,  I  suppose,  because 
he  finds  there  the  form  of  exercise,  the  type  of 
interest,  which  engages  him  most.  He  must  have 
a  breakfast  to-morrow.  Very  well,  he  will  endure 
this  toil  in  order  to  eat  that  breakfast.  A  pro- 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

fession,  on  the  other  hand,  if  rightly  entered,  is  no 
obnoxious  but  a  glad  affair,  being  the  channel 
through  which  what  is  best  in  us  is  provided  a 
natural  outgo.  The  work  itself  is  our  reward,  for 
each  day  in  it  we  gain  a  little  greater  mastery  of 
ourselves.  All  we  need  is  to  be  supported  while 
at  work.  Pay  is  desirable.  So  much,  at  least,  as 
shall  give  fullest  freedom,  steady  efficiency,  and 
that  honor  which  should  ever  accompany  excel- 
lence. But  money  is  not  the  main  thing.  What 
we  are  thinking  of  is  the  chance  afforded  to  do 
what  we  are  best  fitted  to  do. 
£  Still,  nothing  in  the  world  is  good  which  is  not 
socialized.  No  one  can  live  for  himself  with  per- 
manent satisfaction.  If  as  a  teacher  I  seek  merely 
to  exercise  my  own  powers,  heedless  of  my  stu- 
dents, my  powers  will  not  be  exercised.  Regard 
for  another  is  a  factor  in  the  regard  for  self.  The 
two  cannot  be  divorced.  When  we  attempt  it, 
each  perishes. 

So  I  was  obliged  to  specify  a  second  aim  of  the 

professions  as  benefit  to  the  community.   Need, 

want,  suffering,  are  all  around  me,  and,  full  of 

pity,  I  dedicate  myself  to  bringing  about  better 

18 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

conditions.  All  the  professions  have  this  redemp- 
tive character.  The  minister  finds  men  belittled 
by  sin,  and  persuasively  proclaims  the  infinite 
mercy  of  God  and  his  readiness  to  lead  whoever 
trusts  him  into  abounding  life.  The  doctor  is  dis- 
tressed over  our  aching  bodies,  and  would  relieve 
them  of  their  pains.  The  lawyer  —  the  upright 
lawyer  —  perceives  the  tangle  in  which  justice  is 
apt  to  present  itself,  and  sets  himself  to  find  the 
straight  path  and  to  protect  those  who  walk  in  it. 
And  we  teachers,  seeing  the  misery  which  attends 
a  lack  of  knowledge,  make  it  our  business  to  war 
with  ignorance  and  to  furnish  the  aspiring  young 
with  that  knowledge  which  opens  to  them  happy 
and  powerful  lives.  The  scientific  man  and  the 
artist  are  redeemers  too,  in  their  several  modes. 
No  less  than  we  they  would  save  mankind  from  a 
low  order  of  living.  This  passion  of  redemption 
should  fill  us  teachers  and  make  us  insist  that 
whatever  benefits  we  receive  in  our  work  shall 
never  be  sundered  from  those  which  we  bestow. 
And  since  throughout  the  professions  our  own 
gams  from  practice  go  hand  in  hand  with  the 
gains  of  him  whom  we  would  redeem,  we  should 
19 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

be  foolish  to  guard  our  giving,  restricting  it  by 
fixed  measure,  so  much  for  so  much,  as  do  trades- 
men. They  part  with  precious  goods  and  justly 
claim  compensation  for  their  loss.  We  have  no 
other  merchandise  than  ourselves.  The  more  of 
this  people  will  take,  the  better  we  like  it.  Let  my 
students,  then,  use  me  to  the  full.  I  shall  incur  no 
loss.  By  their  demands  I  get  the  very  chance  I 
want.  When  at  the  close  of  the  prescribed  hour 
my  pupils  crowd  about  my  desk,  asking  for  fur- 
ther explanation  and  disposed  to  develop  the 
subject  of  my  lecture,  I  am  pleased.  And  if  I  see 
that  these  pupils  are  accepting  my  guidance, 
adopting  the  ideals  which  I  have  formed  for  my- 
self, and  trying  to  adapt  them  to  their  less  ma- 
ture lives,  I  feel  myself  rewarded.  In  our  work 
altruistic  and  egoistic  profits  coincide. 

There  is  always  danger  that  the  public  mind 
will  become  confused  on  this  point  and  assume 
without  reflection  that  the  methods  applicable  in 
the  professional  and  commercial  spheres  are  the 
same.  Under  the  delusive  call  of  the  half-under- 
stood word  "efficiency,"  a  kind  of  epidemic  swept 
over  the  educational  world  a  few  years  ago. 
20 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

Teachers  were  ordered  to  fill  out  blanks  reporting 
the  detailed  amounts  of  their  work,  with  a  view 
to  adjusting  salaries  accordingly.  In  this  reckon- 
ing quantity  was  to  be  every  thing;  quality  did  not 
count.  How  many  hours  did  we  teach?  How 
much  time  was  given  to  preparing  a  lecture? 
How  much  to  administration?  How  much  to 
reading  written  exercises?  How  much  to  meet- 
ings with  students?  Now  it  is  evident  that  if  we 
are  engaged  on  "piece  work"  and  are  to  be  paid 
so  much  for  so  much,  these  inquiries  are  of  first 
consequence.  They  are  precisely  those  which 
every  sensible  merchant  makes  of  his  employees. 
But  it  is  equally  evident  that  any  teacher  willing 
or  even  able  to  answer  such  questions  demonstrates 
his  unfitness  for  his  place.  When  preparing  a  lec- 
ture shall  I  keep  my  eye  on  the  watch  and  pause 
when  it  shows  the  amount  of  time  I  am  paid  for? 
Or  shall  I,  through  my  interest  in  the  subject, 
press  on  exploring  it,  regardless  of  time  spent. 
When  a  student  brings  me  his  perplexities  shall 
I  answer  those  only  which  can  be  included  in  the 
compensated  quarter-hour?  There  is  no  surer 
way  of  degrading  our  profession  than  to  put  it 

21 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

under  mercantile  rules.  A  teacher  should  be 
chosen  on  grounds  of  scholarship,  experience, 
and  professional  spirit,  and  then  be  trusted. 
Inspection  and  measurement  check  his  inclina- 
tion to  say  to  his  pupils,  "Here  am  I.  Take  me. 
For  your  sakes  I  am  here.  Take  all  of  me  you 
want." 

But  besides  the  desire  of  the  professional 
man  to  exercise  his  powers  and  so  to  realize  him- 
self in  his  work,  besides  his  wish  to  seek  out  the 
needy  and  supply  their  wants  from  his  own  abun- 
dance, —  besides  the  inevitable  blending  of  these 
two  aims,  —  I  mentioned  a  third,  but  expressed 
it  in  rather  enigmatic  terms.  I  said  that  every 
professional  man  lived  in  loyalty  to  a  growing 
brotherhood.  This  phase  I  must  now  explain. 

It  is  significant  that  we  do  not  say  "a  pro- 
fessional." Even  the  word  "professor"  takes  on 
a  special  meaning  and  indicates  a  certain  aca- 
demic rank.  Our  common  term  is  "a  member  of 
a  profession,"  plainly  indicating  that  he  who  de- 
serves to  be  called  such  is  no  longer  a  merely  in- 
dividual person.  He  has  merged  his  individuality 
with  that  of  others  and  now  belongs  to  a  troop, 

22 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

a  company,  a  brotherhood  who  possess  a  com- 
mon stock  of  knowledge,  common  purposes, 
common  standards,  which  are  continually  grow- 
ing and  to  which  each  member  of  the  brother- 
hood is  expected  to  conform  and  contribute.  To 
the  criticized  maintenance  and  advancement  of 
this  brotherhood  all  else  is  subordinated.  You, 
for  example,  are  here  to-day  because  as  members 
of  the  teaching  profession  you  know  you  cannot 
do  your  work  well  out  of  your  own  heads.  To  a 
large  degree  you  are  dependent  on  those  who  are 
teachers  already.  Knowledge  of  our  beautiful  art 
has  been  accumulating  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion and  now  furnishes  the  common  stock  from 
which  we  all  draw.  Accordingly  we  write  books 
about  teaching,  establish  educational  journals, 
hold  assemblies  like  this,  and  coming  together 
report  what  each  has  discovered  to  increase  the 
power  of  our  common  calling.  Each  speaks 
here  not  of  "my"  profession,  but  of  "our"  pro- 
fession, and  labors  to  advance  rather  it  than 
himself. 

Notice,  for  example,  how  medicine  has  ad- 
vanced in  our  time.   Each  physician  is  alert  for 
23 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

discovery.  Continually  engaged  in  research,  he 
considers  that  whatever  he  learns  does  not  be- 
long to  him,  but  must  be  reported  at  once  in  the 
medical  journals  and  be  at  the  disposal  of  all. 
If  a  physician  attempts  to  lock  a  discovery  up 
to  himself  by  patenting,  we  look  askance  at  him, 
count  him  not  quite  professional,  and  declare 
that  he  does  not  understand  the  loyalty  due  to 
his  colleagues.  Just  so  is  it  with  the  minister,  the 
artist,  the  scientific  man,  with  all  indeed  who 
engage  in  professional  work.  Each  draws  from  a 
common  stock  of  accumulated  knowledge  and 
ideals,  and  feels  an  obligation  to  contribute  to  that 
common  stock.  Even  the  professional  robber, 
whom  we  contrast  with  the  amateur  thief,  gets 
his  designation  because  we  believe  his  evil  in- 
genuity and  daring  are  not  all  his  own,  but  have 
been  studied  and  formulated  in  a  league  of 
rascals. 

This  loyalty  to  a  growing  brotherhood,  at  least 
when  its  aims  are  worthy,  exalts  us  and  imparts 
to  each  a  dignity  which  comes  in  no  other  way. 
There  is  a  great  saying  of  Goethe's,  "Be  a  whole, 
or  join  a  whole."  The  first  half  of  it  is  a  mere 
24 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

counsel  of  perfection  which  does  not  regard  pos- 
sibilities. Few  of  us  can  be  a  whole.  Can  any 
one?  We  seem  compelled  to  one-sidedness, 
obliged,  in  order  to  develop  ourselves  at  all,  to 
move  strongly  in  certain  directions  though  know- 
ing that  we  thus  check  other  worthy  aptitudes. 
It  is,  therefore,  perpetually  important  to  bear  the 
second  clause  in  mind,  "Join  a  whole."  Our 
blessed  whole  is  the  teaching  profession.  Joining 
that,  my  defects  become  comparatively  unim- 
portant, being  supplemented  by  the  powers  which 
you  possess,  which  the  other  man  possesses.  Each 
of  us  may  bring  something  from  his  own  experi- 
ence and  contribute  it  to  the  common  stock  of 
the  teacher's  art.  In  teaching  there  is  no  higher, 
no  lower.  It  is  all  one.  Everywhere  the  same  ar- 
tistic conditions  are  to  be  met.  And  each  of  us, 
in  proportion  as  we  do  our  work  wisely,  is  helping 
all  others  to  do  their  work  also. 

And  when  the  wholeness  sought  by  an  individ- 
ual is  found  in  loyal  identification  of  himself  with 
the  best  tendencies  of  his  profession,  it  is  aston- 
ishing what  dignity  and  power  become  his.  The 
process  is  most  easily  traced  in  the  case  of  the 
25 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

soldier.  The  loafer  of  the  back  street  enlists, 
puts  on  the  uniform,  and  goes  forth  a  new  man, 
compelling  us  to  wonder  how  he  can  be  so  brave, 
so  ready  to  risk  his  life  for  a  cause.  But  do  we  not 
forget  that  it  is  not  the  individual  man  who  is 
courageous?  It  is  the  member  of  a  regiment,  the 
wearer  of  a  uniform,  to  whom  the  cause  is  precious. 
So  it  should  be  with  us  soldiers  of  knowledge. 
We  are  members  of  a  growing  brotherhood,  and 
do  not  teach  as  solitary  adventurers.  We  are  not 
wise  enough  for  that.  It  is  through  our  profession 
that  we  are  rendered  stout,  for  from  it  we  get 
and  to  it  we  give  in  indistinguishable  degrees. 
Often  we  must  say,  "What  is  there  that  I  have 
not  received?"  for  through  union  with  our 
fellow  teachers  we  become  powerful.  Since,  then, 
we  cannot  each  be  a  whole,  let  us  join  a  whole, 
and  so  attain  that  dignity,  that  superiority  to  our 
own  detached  selves,  which  comes  only  through 
whole-hearted  loyalty  to  our  profession. 

Such,  I  conclude,  are  the  fundamental  differ- 
ences between  the  commercial  life  and  the  pro- 
fessional life.    The  man  of  commerce  possesses 
something  which  it  would  pinch  him  to  part  with, 
26 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

or  he  is  called  on  for  work  which  is  disagreeable 
to  do.  To  make  him  a  little  better  off  than  be- 
fore he  claims  compensation.  The  professional 
man,  on  the  other  hand,  parts  with  nothing,  he 
himself  being  his  only  merchandise,  and  the  giv- 
ing of  this  rather  increasing  than  diminishing  his 
precious  store.  The  work  asked  of  him  is  that 
which  he  especially  delights  to  do,  all  the  more 
because  it  assists  the  needy  and  unites  him  with 
a  body  rich  in  tradition  and  progressive  temper. 
It  is  easy  to  fall  into  error  here  and  to  imagine 
that  the  professional  man  is  one  who  is  busy  with 
mental  work,  the  non-professional  with  manual. 

I  But  though  the  intellectual  factor  is  usually 
larger  in  the  professions,  there  are  few  of  them 
|  which  do  not  Require  much  physical  exertion 
and  some  a  high  degree  of  manual  dexterity; 
while  what  is  called  manual  labor  continually 
suffers  from  a  lack  of  the  mental  alertness  which 
should  be  its  regular  attendant.  No,  the  distinc- 
tion does  not  rest  on  a  contrast  in  the  kinds  of 
work  performed,  but  on  a  difference  in  the  atti- 
tude of  mind  as  regards  compensation  while  per- 
forming that  work.  The  kind  of  payment  sought 
27 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

by  the  professional  person  is  that  which  Tenny- 
son, in  his  little  poem  entitled  "Wages,"  attrib- 
utes to  the  virtuous  man  everywhere:  — 

"  Glory  of  warrior,  glory  of  orator,  glory  of  song, 
Paid  with  a  voice  flying  by,  to  be  lost  on  an  endless  sea  — 
Glory  of  Virtue,  to  fight,  to  struggle,  to  right  the  wrong  — 
Nay,  but  she  aimed  not  at  glory,  no  lover  of  glory  she; 
Give  her  the  glory  of  going  on  and  still  to  be." 

That  is,  the  wages  we  clamor  for,  the  glory  of 
going  on  and  still  to  be.  And  when,  as  so  often 
happens,  we  must  ask  for  an  increase  of  salary, 
this  is  not  meant  to  bring  us  more  riches,  fame, 
or  even  comfort.  These  were  put  aside  when  we 
became  teachers.  We  want  the  means  for  bring- 
ing out  our  powers  more  fully,  for  rendering  them 
more  effective,  and  for  enabling  us  to  hold  the 
dignified  place  in  the  community  which  our  call- 
ing demands. 

But  there  is  one  important  part  of  my  subject 
I  have  not  touched  yet.  How  many  professions 
are  there  and  what  are  their  names?  The  great 
four  which  we  ordinarily  think  of  as  types  of  all 
are  preaching,  teaching,  medicine,  and  the  law. 
Nowadays,  too,  we  should  probably  include  under 
28 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

medicine  the  admirable  labors  of  the  trained 
nurse,  and  perhaps  be  inclined  to  place  as  a  kind 
of  intermediary  between  the  minister  and  the 
lawyer  the  philanthropist  and  publicist,  as  those 
who  study  the  well-being  of  the  community.  But 
shall  we  not,  then,  be  obliged  to  enlarge  our  list 
considerably,  and  include  in  it  the  entire  field  of 
science  and  art  as  peculiarly  those  in  which  the 
professional  spirit  is  manifest?  The  painter  who 
paints  for  the  money  his  pictures  will  bring  is  no 
artist.  He  must  paint  for  his  own  sake,  because 
that  is  what  he  wants  to  do  and  with  an  under- 
standing of  what  has  been  done.  Of  course  he 
must  live,  and  he  will  be  glad  when  one  of  his  pic- 
tures brings  him  a  large  sum,  for  that  will  give 
him  leisure  to  paint  better  still.  Just  so  the 
scientific  man  joyfully  explores  unknown  fields 
and  makes  a  small  contribution  to  his  constantly 
growing  science.  If  he  ever  comes  to  wealth,  he 
will  be  equipped  for  pressing  on  farther.  But,  after 
all,  he  will  feel,  as  Professor  Agassiz  once  said,  that 
he  cannot  afford  the  time  to  make  money;  he 
has  more  important  business  in  hand  than  that. 
Such  is  the  professional  spirit  in  science  and  art, 
29 


raising  the  practitioner  in  these  fields  at  least  to 
the  level  of  the  doctor  or  minister. 

But  I  suspect  when  we  have  made  the  number 
of  professions  so  large,  we  shall  begin  to  notice 
how  within  them  a  professional  spirit  appears  in 
widely  varying  degrees.  It  seems  more  legitimate 
for  the  architect,  the  actor,  or  the  novelist  to 
look  to  his  gains  than  it  does  for  the  poet  or  the 
doctor.  Even  the  painter,  bargaining  over  his 
picture,  does  not  shock  as  does  the  minister  who 
leaves  a  needy  parish  for  a  wealthy  one.  We 
warmly  commend  the  professional  man  who  is 
indifferent  to  monetary  gam,  considering  only 
the  enjoyment  of  his  work,  the  benefit  it  brings 
to  others,  and  his  responsibility  to  his  order.  But 
we  do  not  expect  such  indifference  of  all,  ad- 
mitting that  there  are  halfway  houses  between 
professionalism  and  commercialism,  and  that 
highly  respectable  trading-booths  often  stand 
on  the  same  ground  where  artists  dwell.  Many 
men,  and  still  more  women,  take  up  teaching  for 
a  brief  season,  not  through  any  taste  or  fitness 
for  it,  but  because  they  find  in  it  the  readiest 
means  of  support.  They  frequently  work  hard, 
30 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

are  entirely  frank  in  acknowledging  their  pur- 
pose, and  should  not  be  lightly  condemned.  Ne- 
cessity is  laid  pitiably  upon  them.  Only  let  us  not 
confuse  them  with  what  they  are  not.  They  are 
not  representatives  of  our  arduous  profession. 
Excellence  does  not  approach  their  classroom,  and 
they  are  probably  largely  responsible  for  the  low 
scale  of  salaries.  As  transient  traders  hi  know- 
ledge, they  compete  with  those  who  dedicate 
themselves  professionally  to  teaching,  and  ap- 
pointing boards  are  not  competent  to  distinguish 
those  who  want  the  salary  from  those  who  want 
the  work. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  must  have  observed 
how  many  of  those  who  are  ostensibly  merchants 
are  moved  by  professional  impulses.  I  know  a 
man  who  has  always  kept  a  village  store.  Old 
now  and  somewhat  infirm,  he  has  been  obliged 
to  sell  out  his  interest  in  the  little  establishment; 
but  still  he  hobbles  to  the  store  every  morning 
and  goes  through  the  familiar  motions  there.  I 
do  not  think  he  makes  money  out  of  his  atten- 
dance ;  that  is  not  what  he  wants.  But  he  cannot 
be  quite  himself  without  shopkeeping.  Americans 
3* 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

are  said  to  be  ever  in  pursuit  of  the  dollar,  and 
possibly  this  is  true.  But  in  an  enormous  number 
of  cases  it  is  the  pursuit  that  is  pursued  and  not 
the  coin.  In  playing  the  game,  playing  it  ingeni- 
ously, forcibly,  honorably,  beneficently,  they 
find  a  fairer  field  for  powers  than  in  any  other 
species  of  activity.  Every  one  here  knows  happy 
merchants  who  have  become  accomplished 
gentlemen  through  their  work,  who  have  a  high 
sense  of  public  responsibility,  study  how  to 
make  their  business  help  their  city,  and  take  the 
same  pride  in  the  quality  of  the  goods  they  sell 
as  you  and  I  do  in  the  way  we  conducted  our 
last  lesson.  In  spite  of  the  newspapers,  I  find 
these  men  largely  accepting' the  third  of  our  pro- 
fessional conditions  and  recognizing  a  growing 
brotherhood  of  trade.  They  believe  hi  right  ways 
of  conducting  business,  respect  established  stand- 
ards of  trade,  and  will  forfeit  personal  gain  in 
order  to  conform  to  such  standards.  Between 
such  tradesmen  and  members  of  a  profession  I 
cannot  detect  a  difference. 

On  the  whole,  then,  I  am  obliged  to  conclude 
that  the  kind  of  work  we  do  does  not  make  us 
32 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

professional  men,  but  the  spirit  in  which  we  do 
it.  There  is  no  fixed  number  of  professions.  One 
may  be  found  anywhere,  for  professionalism  is 
an  attitude  of  mind.  Wherever,  outrunning  the 
desire  for  personal  profit,  we  find  joy  in  work, 
eagerness  for  service,  and  a  readiness  for  co- 
operative progress,  there  trade  has  been  left 
behind  and  a  profession  entered. 

We  teachers  should  count  ourselves  more  favor- 
ably circumstanced  than  most  workers  for  ac- 
quiring this  life-giving  professional  spirit.  Wealth 
can  hardly  be  said  to  be  open  to  us,  anything 
more  than  a  bare  living  we  renounce  at  the  start. 
The  difficulties  of  our  marvelous  art  of  thought- 
transference  and  the  intimate  relations  we  hold 
with  a  multitude  of  expanding  and  needy  minds 
continually  stimulate  our  interest  and  our  altru- 
ism. So  distinct,  too,  is  our  business,  so  sharply 
separating  us  from  those  for  whom  we  work, 
and  even  from  the  rest  of  the  community,  that 
the  sense  of  belonging  to  a  consecrated  brother- 
hood comes  to  us  almost  as  a  matter  of  course. 
Such  an  attitude  of  mind  is  no  doubt  more  diffi- 
cult for  those  who  work  confusedly  in  the  mis- 
33 


TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 

cellaneous  world.  Yet  may  we  not  believe  that 
our  profession  is  prophetic  and  presents  a  type 
toward  which  all  organized  society  moves?  Surely 
when  that  Kingdom  of  Heaven  for  which  we 
nightly  pray  is  come,  the  mad  scramble  for  per- 
sonal profit  will  cease  to  enslave  us.  Each  man 
will  contentedly  accept  his  special  task  as  that 
in  which  lies  his  best  opportunity  for  personal 
expression.  Every  man,  too,  will  be  studying  the 
needs  of  his  neighbor  as  inseparable  from  his 
own,  and  will  consequently  cleave  to  that  neigh- 
bor, sharing  with  him  his  inherited  knowledge, 
his  own  experience,  and  his  guiding  ideals.  In 
those  happy  days  we  shall  esteem  all  men  of 
good  will  as  our  professional  brothers,  regard- 
less of  whether  they  are  teachers,  lawyers,  scien- 
tists, or  business  men. 

Believing  as  I  do  that  teaching  is  a  profession 
which  thus  illuminates  all  life,  training  us  to 
sound  method  whatever  we  do,  I  warmly  con- 
gratulate the  members  of  this  assembly  on  hav- 
ing found  entrance  to  an  occupation  so  glorious. 


OUTLINE 

1.  The  importance  of  the  distinction  between  a  pro- 
fession and  a  trade 3 

2.  Some  examples  of  professional  attitude      ...    4 

3.  The  feeling  that  certain  classes  should  hold  them- 
selves aloof  from  pay       6 

4.  The  professional  and  the  commercial  attitudes 
toward  pay 7 

5.  Professional  remuneration  is  designed  to  secure 
three  essential  negative  conditions  of  work     .    .     9 

a.  The  lack  of  money  deprives  the  mind  of  full 
freedom  to  teach 9 

b.  Inadequate  remuneration  interferes  with  the 
highest  efficiency 10 

c.  Low  pay  damages  the  dignity  which  exalts .  n 

6.  Teachers  for  the  most  part  are  working  on  a  scale 

of  salary  uneconomical  for  the  community      .     .12 

a.  The  salaries  which  teachers  may  fairly  claim  12 

b.  The   obligation   to    raise    the   salaries   of 
teachers 13 

7.  The  three  positive  inducements  which  distinguish 
professional  from  commercial  life 13 

a.  The  opportunity  to  exercise  our  dominant 
powers 14 

(1)  The  enduring  quality  of  joy  in  work .  15 

(2)  Activity  is  merely  instrumental  with 
the  man  who  works  for  pay      .    .    .17 

35 


OUTLINE 

b.  The  chance  to  benefit  somebody    .    .    .    .  18 

(1)  The  redemptive  character  of  all  pro- 
fessions       18 

(2)  Altruistic  and  egoistic  profits  coin- 
cide in  professional  work      .    .     .    .19 

(3)  The  fallacy  in  applying  commercial 
measures  to  professional  life      ...  20 

C.  The  power  of  professional  membership    .     .22 

(1)  Each  individual  is  merged  in  a  loyal 
brotherhood 22 

(2)  Each  draws  from  and  contributes  to  a 
stock  of  common  knowledge     ...  23 

(3)  Each  attains  the  dignity  of  being 
superior  to  his  detached  self      .    .    .25 

8.  The  distinction  rests  on  a  difference  in  the  atti- 
tude of  mind  as  regards  compensation  while  per- 
forming work 26 

9.  The  enlarging  number  of  professions      ....  28 
10.  The  professional  spirit  appears  in  widely  varying 

degrees 30 

i-i.  Even  commerce  is  moved  by  professional  im- 
pulses   31 

12.  There  is  a  profession  wherever,  outrunning  the 
desire  for  personal  profit,  there  is  joy  in  work, 
eagerness  for  service,  and  a  readiness  for  coopera- 
tive progress 32 

13.  The  teaching  profession  presents  a  type  toward 
which  all  organized  society  moves 33 


"RIVERSIDE  EDUCATIONAL 
MONOGRAPHS 

GENERAL  EDUCATIONAL  THEORY 

DETTBT'S  MORAL  PRINCIPLES  IK  EDUCATION 85 

ELIOT'S  EDUCATION  FOR  EFFICIENCY 80 

ELIOT'S  CONCRETE  AND  PRACTICAL  IN  MODERN  EDUCATION 80 

EMERSON'S  EDUCATION 88 

FISKE'S  THE  MEANING  OF  INFANCY M 

HTDE'S  THE  TEACHER'S  PHILOSOPHY 85 

PALMEH'S  THE  IDEAL  TEACHER 45 

PALMER'S  TRADES  AND  PROFESSIONS 35 

FROSSER'S  THE  TEACHER  AND  OLD  AGE 60 

TERMAN'S  THE  TEACHER'S  HEALTH 80 

TiiOEXDiKE's  INDIVIDUALITY 35 

ADMINISTRATION  AND  SUPERVISION  OF  SCHOOLS 

BBTTS'S  NEW  IDEALS  IN  RURAL  SCHOOLS 60 

BLOOMFIELD'S  VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  OF  YOUTH 60 

CABOT'S  VOLUNTEER  HELP  TO  THE  SCHOOLS 60 

COLE'S  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 30 

CUBBERLEY'S  CHANGING  CONCEPTIONS  OF  EDUCATION SO 

CUBBERLEY'S  THE  IMPROVEMENT  OF  RURAL  SCHOOLS 80 

LEWIS'S  DEMOCRACY'S  HIGH  SCHOOL 60 

PERRY'S  STATUS  OF  THE  TEACHER 80 

SNEDDEN'S  THE  PROBLEM  OF  VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION 30 

TROWBRIDOE'S  THE  HOME  SCHOOL 60 

WEEK'S  THE  PEOPLE'S  SCHOOL 60 

METHODS  OF  TEACHING 

BAILET'S  ART  EDUCATION 60 

BETTS'S  THE  RECITATION 60 

CAMPAONAC'S  THE  TEACHING  OF  COMPOSITION 80 

COOLEY'S  LANGUAGE  TEACHING  IN  THE  GRADES .85 

DEWEY'S  INTEREST  AND  EFFORT  IN  EDUCATION 60 

EARHART'S  TEACHING  CHILDREN  TO  STUDY 60 

EVANS'S  THE  TEACHING  OF  HIGH  SCHOOL  MATHEMATICS SB 

FAIRCHILD'S  THE  TEACHING  OF  POETRY  IN  THE  HIGH  SCHOOL 60 

FREEMAN'S  THE  TEACHING  OF  HANDWRITING 60 

HALIBURTON  AND  SMITH'S  TEACHING  POETRY  IN  THE  GRADES 60 

HAKTWELL'S  THE  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY SB 

HAYNKS'S  ECONOMICS  IN  THE  SECONDARY  SCHOOL 60 

HILL'S  THE  TEACHING  OF  CIVICS .60 

KILPATRICK'S  THE  MONTESSORI  SYSTEM  EXAMINED 8B 

PALMER'S  ETHICAL  AND  MORAL  INSTRUCTION  IN  THE  SCHOOLS..    .85 

^•PALMER'S  SELF-CULTIVATION  IN  ENGLISH 80 

SUZZALLO'S  THE  TEACHING  OF  PRIMARY  ARITHMETIC 60 

SozzALLO'g  THE  TEACHING  OF  SPELLING 60 

1916 


A     000034817     7 


